Zephiel
Zephiel (ゼフィール, Zefiiru, called Zefhyr in the Japanese versions) is the main villian of Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi and a minor non-playable character in its prequel Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. Story Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken Zephiel is the heir to the Bern throne, and the son of Queen Hellene. Zephiel is a very gifted child, and it is obvious that he will become a fine ruler of Bern. However, his spiteful and paranoid father King Desmond tries to stop him from taking the throne, wanting his favored daughter Guinevere's future husband to rule instead. Despite this Zephiel and his half-sister, Guinevere, love each other dearly, but Desmond also wants to bring an end to their contact, starting with the order of killing a baby fox that Zephiel captured and gave to Guinevere as a pet. During the game, Zephiel is almost murdered by Jaffar and Nino. However, Nino overhears his prayer asking for his family to live in happiness and that he can be accepted by his father. She relates with him due to her own struggles to be accepted by Sonia, who she believes to be her mother. She thus refuses to kill him. Jaffar, who feels compassion towards Nino due to her saving him in the chapter "Four-Fanged Offense", disregards his orders and the two of them attempt to flee, leaving the prince only unconscious. Eliwood, Hector, and Lyn ultimately rescue Zephiel from Black Fang troops led by Ursula. Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi Zephiel, now king of Bern, is the main villain of Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi. In this title, Zephiel's sanity is slipping away from him, and he seeks to rid the land of Elibe of humanity by allying himself with dragons, believing they would not repeat humanity's mistakes. Many years after the events of Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, Desmond attempted a second assassination by handing his son a goblet of poisoned wine who took it under the belief that his father had finally accepted him. Zephiel fell ill from the poison, but did not die. However, with the help of his close ally Murdock, he stayed in hiding and had a false funeral arranged. When Desmond stepped up to the casket to view Zephiel's body at the funeral, Zephiel, now in a lust for revenge, rose and stabbed his father to death. A few days later, Zephiel used the Fire Emblem to awaken the Demon Dragon Idenn. Shortly afterwards, the dragon Jahn sends an illusion of himself to confront Zephiel about his motives, and when it is revealed that they have similar goals, the two started working together. After this, Zephiel ordered his army to take over the continent of Elibe... The nomad and myrmidon kingdom of Sacae was attacked by a force led by Brunya and the first to fall. Next was the mercenary and pegasus knight kingdom of Ilia, with the Bern forces led by Murdock. Then he personally led the attack on the Lycia Alliance and fatally wounded the marquess of Ostia, Hector, who'd die in Roy's arms. Zephiel later forged an alliance with the Kingdom of Etruria, and caused a rebellion there; he personally went to an attack himself with Flaer, Nacien, and Percival, and knocked out Cecilia after she questioned him. When he left, and the Lycian army was noticed, Nacien left Flaer to command, and he was killed by Roy. Later, in chapter 22, Zephiel sends Brunya with Idenn to the Dragon Temple to complete his plan and later faces Roy, who manages to defeat him. He can be unlocked as a playable character in the trial maps after the game is completed 7 times. Fire Emblem: Hasha no Tsurugi Zephiel makes his first apperance in person in Volume 6 after defeating Cecilia, where he engages Al in a duel. Al is nearly defeated, until he touches the Fire Emblem and promotes to a Dragon Lord and nearly defeats Zephiel until the Fire Emblem leaves his possession. After the battle Zephiel regains the Fire Emblem and figures out that Al is the son of Hartmut and Militha, a Dragon, who, along with Al, was sealed by Hartmut to hide that fact. Zephiel later appears at the final battle with Roy. This battle is slightly different as Zephiel starts with the Eckesachs and Sword of Seals, which he uses to seal Al again. Al then partially escapes and distracts Zephiel enough for Roy to get the Sword of Seals and kill him. Several times in the manga Guinevere remembers Zephiel as a kind hearted boy, and even remembers a scene that took place in Rekka no Ken, when Zephiel gave her a fox kit. Personality Zephiel started out as an idealistic and talented youth wanting nothing more then his parents to reconcile and peace in the world. Zephiel would later become twisted from his father's abuse and his mother's unintentional abuse of him. It is said by Guinevere that Zephiel was never the same after his fathers attempted poisoning of him and subsequent death by Zephiel. In Game Base Stats ''Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Prince | - |11 |20 |7 |7 |8 |5 |8 |13 |7 |? | Sword - A | Silver Sword Elixir |} Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi '''Normal Mode' | King | - |20 |70 |24 |20 |14 |15 |22 |24 |17 |5 | Sword | Eckesachs Hero Crest |} Hard Mode | King | - |20 |71 |24 |20 |14 |15 |22 |24 |17 |5 | Sword | Eckesachs Hero Crest |} Trial Maps | King | - |20 |60 |24 |20 |14 |15 |22 |24 |17 |5 | Sword - S | Eckesachs |} ''Fire Emblem: Awakening |General |20 |75 |41 |12 |34 |35 |23 |41+2 |33 |5 | Defense +2 Indoor Battle Defense Cry Great Shield Conqueror | Lance - A Axe - B |Spear* |} *Enemy only, joins unequipped Musical Themes Zephiel's battle theme is called '''Battle for Whose Sake' and plays whenever he enters battle in Fūin no Tsurugi. His event theme is The Kingdom of Bern, which is exclusive to him in Fūin no Tsurugi, but would be made the theme of Bern as a whole in Rekka no Ken. Death Quotes Notes *Like many characters in Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi, Zephiel seems to be a revisitation of a character from Akaneia, in this case Book 2 Hardin. Both start out as wise and benevolent allies to the protagonist who seem to have a bright future ahead as a ruler, yet turn out to be brutal tyrants because they were unloved (Hardin by his wife, Zephiel by his father), their loved ones even fooling them at one point (Nyna by proposing to Hardin due to Boah's advice and Desmond pretending to reconcile with Zephiel before his murder attempt). Hardin and Zephiel both seem to be the same age (Late 20s or early 30s) when encountered as bosses, are connected to the Nyna Archetype, have the same gold streak in their armor, are in the game's best class, Zephiel even had glowing red eyes in some pictures like corrupted Hardin, and both finally die in a chapter with hordes of Hero reinforcements. **However, there are prominent differences; Even in death Zephiel was steadfast in his belief that humans would lead themselves to ruin, while Hardin returned to his old self before dying. Hardin has a connection to Marth, while Zephiel's connections are to the father of Roy, and Hardin uses Lances while Zephiel prefers swords. Gallery File:fe7ZepheilGuinevere.jpg|Zephiel with Guinevere as they appear in Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. File:Zephiel FE6.gif|Zephiel's portait in Fūin no Tsurugi. File:Zephiel FE7.gif|Zephiel's portait in Rekka no Ken. File:Zephiel Epilogue_1.png|Zephiel as he appears at the end of Rekka no Ken. File:Zephiel Epilogue 2.png|Zephiel as he appears at the end of Rekka no Ken. File:Zephiel king.gif|Zephiel's battle animation as King. File:Zephiel Manga.jpg|Zephiel as he appeared in Hasha no Tsurugi manga. Category:Enemies Category:Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken characters Category:Fire Emblem: Fūin no Tsurugi characters Category:Allies Category:Playable characters